This invention is directed to a free standing container and processes for forming the free standing container. The free standing container includes a pouch containing a quantity of a product. The pouch is folded along an elongated edge to bring the ends of that edge together and these ends are then connected together to maintain the pouch in the free standing folded configuration.
The packaging of solid food stuff in many instances is much simpler than packaging required for fluids. Since the solid food stuff defines its own shape, it is inherently "free standing". The food stuff itself can be utilized to determine the package shape and to support the package. This gives packagers of such solid food products a wide latitude in choosing packaging material for thier products.
Fluids, on the other hand, must be supported in containers of predefined shapes. For many years containers for fluid were exclusively limited to either cans or bottles. With both cans and bottles, however, the empty container is of the same size as the filled container. This presents disposal problems in many environments.
Recently heat sealable films have become available and new packaging techniques utilizing these films have been developed. Many products are now packaged in heat sealable film "pouches." In certain industries as, for instance, the fast food industry these pouches have become a dominant packaging method. These pouches are extremely utilitarian for certain semi-fluid products such as catsup, salad dressing, soups and the like.
The above referred to pouches once they are empty of their contents are capable of being crumpled, rolled, folded or the like to small volumes facilitating disposal of the empty pouch. Further, these pouches are capable of being produced in large quantities in high production rates on continuous form, fill and seal pouch packaging machines. Such machines are commercially available as for instance, from the W. A. Lane, Inc. company, San Bernardino, Calif.
Typically a pouch produced on a form, fill and seal pouching machine has a front film and a back film which are heat sealed together around their edges on three sides. The partially formed pouch is then filled with a product and heat sealed on the fourth side to complete the pouch.
The above referred to pouches, while being very utilitarian for products such as condiments, salad dressing, oils and the like are limited in their utility with respect to serving as a container for a beverage which is consumed incrementally over time. This is because these pouches are not free standing.
In many situations it is advantageous to have a beverage container which is both free standing and is easily disposed of. Thus, while bottles and cans are free standing they present environmental disposable problems and while pouches are easily disposed of, they are not free standing.
One solution is to support the pouches in a further container as, for instance, in a cardboard box or the like. Thus, certain products are commercially available which utilize a cardboard or heavy paper container as a support container for a pouch located therein. While this is certainly utilitarian, it increases the consumer cost of the product in that two containers are utilized, i.e. the support container--the box and the fluid container--the pouch liner.
A further type of free standing "film" container is known which does not require an external support. This type of container, however, utilizes three discrete films. These are a front film, a back film, and a bottom film. This type of container is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,380,646 and 3,502,521.
While the containers of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,380,646 and 3,502,521 meet the criteria of being both free standing and disposable, because they require heat sealing together three individual films or the use of preformed tubes of sealing film, at certain points in the pouches complex seals must be formed. Thus, at the corners where the bottom film joins both the front film and the back film a fluid tight seal has to be formed between all of the layers of film.
Because of the complexity of sealing multiple layers into a fluid tight seal generally stand alone pouches which incorporate an independent bottom layer are inherently more complicated and therefore more expensive than simple pouches having only front and back film layers.
In view of the above it is evident that there exists a need for new and improved free standing pouches capable of holding fluid contents therein.